From Venice to Rome

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Today is a travel day and not much else. We slept in and grabbed some breakfast at a nice outdoor cafe just a few steps away from our hotel. You'll see from the pictures we got one more ride out the James Bond door into our awaiting water taxi.

Our train ride from Venice to Rome was delightful as the scenery was great and we met a nice young couple from Nashville who had planned their own trip to Italy and had been to Bellagio (on lake Coumo) then on to Venice and they were travelling on the train with us, but getting of in Florence. We gave them a great deal of advice from our previous trips and we shared stories about Venice. They told us about the great tours and we told them about the good shopping spots and the Murano glass factory. It sort of made us feel like cultural slugs, but oh well, we had fun and it gives us an excuse to come back and see the cultural stuff in Venice with the kids!

We made it out of the train station and to our hotel with no problem. The hotel room was another story. While the hotel was "strategically" located (a phrase used by our cab driver when we asked him if it was a good hotel) and the rooms were clean, it was not without its issues. The room was small, drab and hot. We looked at a couple of other rooms, but they were no different and the cost of upgrade was not worth it. We had no internet service in the room, hence the delay in posting our blogs.

We quickly left after determining we had no choice but to stick with it. It was on to the Spanish steps and the Roman equivalent of Rodeo Drive. We tried to stick to the side streets as advised by Suzy Gershman and had some shopping success (as I write this, it occurs to me that Kelly has converted me to the dark side as I used to consider shopping success to be no or limited purchasing versus multiple transactions at various trendy stores). Before we knew it, the stores were closed (drat!) and we had to find something to eat. We found another nice outdoor cafe in a Piazza on the way back to our hotel and enjoyed people watching.

Kelly was exhausted and went in for the night to watch Everybody Loves Raymond on the DVD player (I bought her the 3rd season as a vacation gift). I went out to the Trevi Fountain to satisfy my desire to check off more than one tourist spot in the magnificent city of Rome.
Kelly found herself unable to sleep and 3:30am she had watched possibly 8 episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond and played 100 games of electronic free cell but finally drifted off to sleep with the earphones in her ears.

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Photos

The Secret Door
This was the coolest thing about Venice and our hotel - down a little hallway was a door that opened up into the canal and you can jump right into your taxi just like James Bond!

My Lovely Wife in the Back of Our Water Taxi
On the way to the train station in style

How Much is that Doggy in the Window?
We loved seeing this little dog in the window of one of the homes along the canal. It makes you realize that real people actually live in this unique place that seems built for tourists

In the Train to Rome
Kelly's enjoying the scenery while talking to her friend Gina and checking up on the kids.

Out the Window of the Train
Couldn't resist the country side scenery shot

Spanish Steps
We had to take a picture or two to prove we were in Rome, actually now that I think about it, I have plenty of documentation on my Visa statement...

Trevi Fountain at Night
Not a great picture, but I wanted to remember I went there and got some more Gelati for Kelly while she was in the sauna we called a hotel room